From 2011 to 2012

Well, another year is drawing to its close and we're on the threshold of 2012. The years seem to whiz by, especially in one's later years, and they soon become a blur. Many bad things have happened this year on the international scene, one could hardly imagine a worse year, and some not-so-good things have happened which touch upon my personal life, but on the whole the latter could have been worse although of course it could likewise have been better.

Times come and go, times change, we change as we grow older, and nothing seems the same anymore. People that we once took for granted pass away or pass on and our circle of family, friends and acquaintances takes on a different form and structure. Things that were part of our everyday environment have been discarded and replaced and though we scarcely notice this, a photo of how things once were set against a photo of how things are now will immediately reveal the changes.

All our Yesterdays and all our Tomorrows

We too have changed over the years, both physically and emotionally. The physical changes are of course the most easily noticeable, but the mental changes are no less powerful for being less visible. As I look back on my life, I know that my attitudes and approaches to the people and things around me have evolved and altered as my realities alter and as perhaps my options diminish and the time I have before me becomes markedly less than the time stretching behind me. And if at this point you should be curious to know my age, your curiosity will alas remain unsatisfied! Hehhe...

[BREAK FOR FESTIVITIES] ....

I did not actually have time to complete this post before the New Year caught up with me, so I'm writing the rest of this in 2012! But never mind, it makes no odds, the mood is the same... well, for a few more hours. I've had the cake, I've had the bubbly, and I've had a few nibbles, and in fact I think I've had a little too much to drink,as I'm feeling a bit woozy. But that's mostly affected my locomotion rather than my thought processes... hehhe.... though I rather think I should be horizontal in bed rather than propped up here in front of the computer screen! But, as I want to finish this post before I hit the sack, propped up in front of the computer screen it shall be! 

Out with the Old and in with the New

Now where was I before I was rudely interrupted by... myself? Ah yes, the pros and cons of the outgoing year. Now, as I was saying... ahwwwwwww, I just can't, it's too big a subject for me in my present semi-inebriated state, so I'll have to break off to replenish my batteries and get back to this. So until then, I wish my readers and followers a HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR 2012!

[off to beddy-byes] ....

It's now the evening of the first day of 2012 and time for me to wind up this post, and there will be no looking back over the past year as I over-ambitiously implied yesterday. I leave this to the mass communication media, who can do it and have already done it much better than I could possibly hope to do. 

As I write this I can still hear fireworks being let off sporadically. It seems every year the letting-off of fireworks goes on for longer and longer. And talking of fireworks, the great fireworks display on the Embankment was as usual spectacular and did not disappoint. With Big Ben and the London Eye as the centre-pieces of the display, it was an impressive extravaganza of light bursts illuminating the night sky. Wonderful!

Big Ben assailed on all sides by fireworks

And so we begin a new year. What will the new year bring? We can guess in many instances and as the year wears on we shall see if we're right. We can be sure of one thing: as always, it will be a mix of the good and the bad. The only question is how good will the good be and how bad will the bad be and how much will our personal life be affected by the events to come. The world now has become a very small place indeed thanks to instant global communications and super-fast travel, and what happens at one end of the planet is already being reported at the other before the dust has settled.  We're all in it together, though some will fare better than others. And the way things are going in the area of social networking and the like, there will less and less privacy of the individual in the year to come.There will simply be no place to run or hide anymore.

Welcome, Brave Virtual World!

Christmas Thoughts III

It’s Christmas Eve 2011, just minutes away from Christmas Day, and things are quiet in the house - there's not even the sound of a mouse, but as we don't have mice in the house that's hardly surprising!


I've just come back home from collecting my daughter from a friend's house and I've now settled down for the night with a pot of tea and am composing this last-minute post. 


My feelings about Xmas have waxed and waned over the years from the nonchalant to the religious, passing through the various gradations in between. I suppose as I've aged I have become more respectful of the institution of Christmas and more circumspect of its significance, while continuing to question its historical factuality.


That aside, there is one Christmas tradition that I have come to dislike with the passing of the years, that of frenzied shopping and perfunctory present-giving, and I suppose these two acts go hand in hand more or less: if we didn't have to give presents as a rule we wouldn't have to do so much shopping. Or would we? Would we then just buy ourselves more presents instead? Hard to know without putting it to the test, but then we're opening a whole new can of worms.

I'm quite happy about sending Xmas cards but it's the buying and giving of gifts that I find comes in the way of a more relaxed and fulfilled Christmas. If we could find some way of doing away with this millstone of a custom and perhaps  just preserving it at the very most for one's children and closest family members we might be able to enjoy this important festive season, as it would automatically remove the stress and strain that it inflicts on our minds and bodies and on our pockets! It also reeks of materialism, as it seems to put the emphasis on material objects rather than spirituality. And the argument that one is giving to others cuts no ice with me, as we're also expecting to receive (except in the case of children) and if we don't get we don't give next time round.


The thing that really rankles with me is where people who make no attempt to see you all the year round and care not a jot about whether you live or die suddenly turn up on your doorstep laden with Xmas gifts, nearly all of which you don't like, don't need and would never miss. They drop the presents off (they always just drop them off, as they're in a terrible hurry and they have someone waiting in the car outside). You then realise that you haven't bought them anything in return, panic sets in and you are faced with rushing out to the shops at the eleventh hour to spend more money and make amends for your terrible oversight.


So, like it or not you're locked into the treadmill of gift-buying, otherwise those who give gifts to you may never forgive you for your failure to reciprocate and may shun you for the rest of the new year. But wait a moment, you think, that's what they've done anyway in the past. I haven't seen them since last Christmas when they deposited a carrier-bag of cheap shoddy prezzies on my doorstep and rushed off mumbling some excuse, not to be seen again until now! So what have I got to lose if I don't reciprocate? OK, so they'll be miffed, badmouth me for awhile and call me a few names behind my back but I'll be free of the drudge and expense of having to buy them Xmas presents every year.

The reality however is that you don't have the guts to do this and you drive yourself mad racing around the shops in an attempt to find suitable last-minute presents for your yuletide tormentors just so they can think well of you for another year. I recall one case where we had a tardy 'delivery' of Xmas gifts and when we failed to reciprocate, mainly because we were caught on the hop and with little time to correct our sin of omission, there were no more presents from that source when next Christmas came. And we didn't see them at all during the year - exactly as for the prior year when we were still in their good books. So no change there!


I find that devout Christians are the worst. They take the exchange of gifts so seriously, cannot forgive a lapse, and their subsequent vengeance is terrible! They seem to think that the spirit of Christmas is embodied in the buying and giving of gifts and cite the biblical Three Kings or Magi who brought gold, frankincense and myrrh for the infant Jesus. I sometimes wish there were special outlets selling these three items at Christmas at knock-down prices so we didn't have to rack our brains about what to get John and Jill. But alas no such luck! So it's the inevitable rush for that after-shave and that deodorant and that tin of biscuits and that set of toiletries and the odd bottle of cheap booze.


Well, anyway, enough said of that. As I mentioned at the start, this is Xmas Eve, all the buying  of gifts is over and any omissions are irreparable and the consequences must be faced up to in the coming months. It's time to turn one's thoughts back to the Christmas fare tomorrow and the abuse of one's body from an excessive intake of food and drink. It's the only way to soothe the pain of money ill spent and an empty purse or wallet. Oh woe is me!


As I write this, I am preparing to watch the midnight mass on the telly so I can once again assume the mantle of piety as befitting the occasion. A few rumbustious carols and hymns and some suitably humble praying and pleas for forgiveness should redress the balance and make me pure again. Well that's the theory. The truth of it is probably more like I'm riven with sin from end to end and irrecuperable! Or is that irreclaimable? Or even irredeemable? But whatever it is, it ain't good. 


Still, I do wish there were less spending and less giving of objects at Christmas and more giving of time. To give of one's time to another is the most precious gift we can give: time cannot be bought, cannot be extended, and is finite. Making time for someone is the giving of ourselves, not the giving of objects, it is the offer of our personal presence and company. Time given cannot be seen but its passage is very noticeable; it cannot be touched but its effects are very palpable. Perhaps people would do well to give more of their time and less of soulless objects which are often deposited in a hurry with the recipient for lack of.... time.